Tuchel opens up on Abraham's Chelsea struggles after England snub

The Blues’ leading goalscorer has struggled to make an impact under Tuchel and was recently left out of the England national team.

Thomas Tuchel hopes Tammy Abraham doesn’t lose confidence from his recent lack of opportunities and urged the Chelsea striker to stay focused on winning his spot back.

Abraham’s hopes of making England’s European Championship squad for this summer suffered a setback when Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate left him out of the team ahead of the international break.

It came amid a lack of chances under Tuchel for the 23-year-old, who has just under two years left on his contract.

The striker has played in only five of Tuchel’s opening 13 games as Chelsea manager due to struggles to adapt to the German’s system and an unfortunate ankle injury.

But Tuchel has had a chat with Abraham over his situation and insists the young forward can win a spot back in the line-up.

“We did not talk about it, but it would not surprise me if it’s in his head,” the Blues boss said on Abraham’s England omission, as per the Standard.

“This is totally normal at this level that the players have their own interests, and one of the interests is to have a role in their team, but also their country.

“These are two objectives for Tammy, but in our talks now it’s just about the next steps here, how to increase his involvement here. But, at the same time, when you give confidence to strikers who are actually on the pitch, we cannot change all the time so it’s not easy.

“I accept that it’s not too easy, but it’s also not too hard, and I hope he is not too harsh on himself or overthinks it like, ‘If my situation is like this now, what are the consequences?’

“He has to refocus on his situation and this is what I feel. We have talked about the actual situation here in the club and from here he has, every day, the chance to find his way back.”

Tammy Abraham is forced off Chelsea’s match vs. Newcastle with an injury in the 20th minute. pic.twitter.com/Fq43vdEcXr

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Tuchel added: “It’s been hard for him because he’s never felt fully free, never felt fully painless after this tackle (against Newcastle), so it was hard for him to really perform on the level that you need to perform in training to convince your coach to leave somebody else out.

“At the moment where we left him out, it was a strong decision, we had other options on the bench.”

Abraham could return for Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Sheffield United.